Marin: George Lucas' affordable housing project suffers setback

The Marin Community Foundation has bailed out of plans for affordable housing at filmmaker George Lucas' Grady Ranch, saying financing for such a project appeared unlikely.

"After an extensive study, the Marin Community Foundation had to suspend their plans for facilitating the project due to the increasing uncertainties of obtaining the necessary state and federal financing," according to a statement issued jointly Thursday by the foundation and Skywalker Properties.

Thomas Peters, CEO of the foundation, said, "Though often and remarkably left out of most community debates about affordable housing, the central challenge of financing is a first-tier topic in determining what can actually be built."

A spokesman for Lucas said the filmmaker will continue seeking a developer willing to move ahead with housing at the site.

Angelo Garcia, president of Lucas Real Estate Holdings, pledged to "start immediately to engage in discussions" with some of the 20 developers identified during studies by the foundation.

"George Lucas feels that affordable housing is necessary so that people who are important in this community, such as teachers, home health care workers and nurses, don't have to live outside Marin," Garcia said.

"We're keeping all our options open," Garcia said in the press release issued Thursday. Garcia was not available to elaborate but Lucas spokeswoman Lynne Hale relayed word from him that "we are disappointed that the Marin Community Foundation wasn't able to bring this project to fruition, but we are committed to building affordable housing and will start the process of finding a developer."

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Peters said that after consultants examined the technical and financial aspects of a low- and moderate-income complex of from 200 to 240 "aesthetically beautiful and environmentally sensitive" dwellings, the foundation decided to drop out.

The decision to abort the effort came despite "the generous land offer by Mr. Lucas" because "other considerable costs of preparing the land and building the housing still needed to be covered," Peters said.

"I am disappointed that the economics are so challenging and sincerely hope that other models can be developed that will bring the project to fruition," he said.

The project envisioned by the foundation could have cost anywhere from $120 million to $150 million, he disclosed. Among factors making financing an all-affordable complex difficult, he noted, are the "downward trajectory" of government grants as well as the state's recent elimination of redevelopment agencies.

Peters said that Lucas was an "absolute gentleman" when told of the foundation's conclusion, but declined to disclose specifics about the conversation, saying only that the filmmaker was "very attuned to the principle and the need" for affordable housing.

Judy Arnold, president of the Board of Supervisors, expressed dismay but noted the site several miles from the freeway "was probably the least accessible property of all the ones" envisioned for housing. She added that Lucas "really thought this would be a beautiful place for moderate- and low-income people to live, so it is too bad."

Lucas last year scrapped plans for a huge film studio on the ranch, citing heated opposition from neighbors. A film studio project had been approved by the county in 1996, and when Lucas decided to proceed years later with a scaled-down version, he sought new permits. Neighbors, saying they were unaware of the 16-year-old plan, hired a lawyer who talked about a lawsuit and said state regulatory agencies had concerns about watershed improvements that were part of the plan. Lucas, at the time in talks about sale of his business to Disney, walked away from the project.

Liz Dale, former president of the Lucas Valley Estates Homeowners Association who helped rally opposition to the studio project, expressed surprise at the foundation action, but added she was not an association spokeswoman and could not comment.